Australia ranked 20 on OECD fixed broadband rankings

Australia continues to lag behind many other developed nations on fixed broadband subscriptions while excelling in wireless broadband, according to world rankings released by the OECD.

At the end of June 2014, Australia was number 20 among 34 OECD countries on the total number of fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, with total penetration at just under 27 per cent.

That’s slightly below the mean for OECD countries overall, which on average have 27.4 per cent penetration.

Most of the Australian fixed connections, about 81 per cent, were DSL connections, while 15 per cent were cable and 3 per cent were fibre.

Switzerland had the best fixed broadband penetration among OECD countries, with 47.3 per cent penetration. The UK was number 7 with 36.2 per cent penetration, while the US was number 16 with 30.2 per cent.

New Zealand also outranked Australia, coming in at 15th place with 31.2 per cent fixed broadband penetration.

While lagging on fixed broadband, Australia came in third place for wireless broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, with about 115 per cent penetration. That means some Australians have more than one wireless broadband subscription.

In this field, Australia was beaten only by Finland with 122 per cent penetration and Japan with 116 per cent. The US had 101 per cent, while New Zealand had nearly 96 per cent, and the UK had about 80 per cent.

Mobile broadband penetration is up around the OECD area—penetration across the 34 developed countries hit 78.2 per cent in the latest report. Seven countries including Australia had greater than 100 per cent mobile broadband penetration.

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